Starbucks Wins Trademark Case Against Chinese Coffee Maker
April, 16, 2007

Starbucks brought a trademark infringement action agains a Shanghai coffee company, Shanghai Xingbake Cafe. The court ordered Xingbanke to change its name and make a public apoloy to starbucks.

"The judgment is a sign that China is responding to pressure from the US and EU to crack down on intellectual property rights infringements and its counterfeiting industry. China is  the source of 70 per cent of the world's pirated goods and US companies claim they lose up to $250 billon a year to piracy. according to a recent report. "Shanghai Xingbake used a green logo similar to that of Starbucks, while the Chinese character 'xing' means 'star' and the characters 'ba' and 'ke' sound like 'bucks' when used together.

"This is a classic example where Xingbanke should have consulted with a trademark expert first who would have advised them that combination of the Green background and the "zing" and the characters 'ba' and 'ke' would surely bury them in a trademark infringement lawsuit against Starbucks. If you look at their mark upper right you can plainly see that the confusingly similar Chinese symboles which mean Starbucks in English are unnecessary.

Xingbanke could have use any other Chinese symbols that did not mean Starbucks and they would have avoided losing their mark. Every Company that avoids consulting with a trademark expert is merely playing Russian Roulet with their business. This year alone they can expect to lose over 3 billion dollars in damage awards besides their marks. Leo Stoller is a trademark expert who can help avoid these loses. Stoller provides trial testimony, trademark damage reports, IP valuations, trademark services, brief and appeal drafting to legal professionals.